Networks supersized for Democratic National Convention

and connect it to the company's POP in Denver, then distribute video over its CDN to streaming locations. Level 3 also will cache all content from the DNC and make it available on-demand for anyone who wants to watch events they may have missed.

This year's DNC has broken new ground for online-content demand because the audience for the convention online will be bigger than before, says Maria Farnon, Level 3's vice president for content markets and product delivery. And it's not just the sheer number of viewers that makes providing online content for the DNC such a challenge: The advent of high-definition television has drastically raised viewer expectations for what picture quality should look like.

"We're all used to user-generated content on YouTube that can be choppy," Farnon says. "But I think for producers of truly large events, we're looking for a much higher level of quality in that delivery."

Qwest, ADC and Level 3 say that planning and foresight have been incredibly important in effectively networking such a large-scale event as the DNC. Farnon, for instance, says that Level 3 began working on the DNC project over a year ago, and the company has a dedicated team of around 50 people who work in everything from transport engineering teams to field technician teams to media operations teams. Mabry, meanwhile, says that Qwest is making its network "fail proof" by having a backup network at another site in place that will reroute services automatically at the convention even if a primary cable is cut.

Even so, extensive planning will only get you so far, Niedermaier says. An operation with as many moving parts as a major political convention requires the ability to respond to unexpected events quickly to meet sudden upticks in capacity demand.

"The key is being able to have equipment and services available on a short-term basis to meet a very tight timeline," Niedermaier says. "So, if a wireless operator detects that there's a capacity need, we have to move our radios into a base-station hotel, or even move our base station into a different area or venue."